The Ball
by poor-person27
Summary: Nikki and Harry attend the University Ball
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Silent Witness whih means I don't own Harry and Nikki :(

This was written whilst I was trying to write the seond part of my other SW fic, it was only supposed to be small but it took on a life of its own. It's now all finished I'm just playing with the wording on the two other chapters, enjoy x

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"Nikki, Harry could I see you in my office for a second?" Leo called to his two younger colleagues. Nikki and Harry looked up at each other from across their desks where they were sat doing paper work and shrugged; neither knowing what the older man wanted.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and Leo'll let us go home early and save us from this mountain of paperwork." Harry joked causing Nikki to giggle.

"What's so funny?" Leo asked from his desk as Nikki and Harry sat down on the couch.

"Nothing." Both said in unison causing Leo to raise his eyebrow but not say anything further as he had learned long ago that with things concerning Harry and Nikki it was best to stay well clear and let them carry on with whatever game they were playing with each other.

"Ok, I've just been on the phone with the Dean and he's informed me that if we want to keep receiving funds from the university then we have to have representation at the faculty ball this Friday night. Now unfortunately I'm at a conference in Cardiff this weekend so I can't attend so I've volunteered the two of you to go instead."

Harry groaned, "You knew this was coming up didn't you Leo, I thought there was something odd when you volunteered to go to that conference this weekend, normally you hate leaving the lab."

"I may have had some idea that it was happening," Leo grinned, "let's call it one of the perks of being the boss. And you never know Harry you might actually enjoy yourself."

"Stuck in a room full of boring academics who like nothing better to talk about how great they are; I don't think so." Moaned Harry, whining more like a small child would than an adult male.

"Oh lighten up Harry!" Nikki said knocking his shoulder playfully with her own, "You'll have me to keep you company and I for one have never been to one of these balls so I'm quite looking forward to it. And if it really is a dire as you and Leo seem to think it is then we can always use the excuse that we've been called to a scene and leave early." Nikki said, getting quite excited at the prospect of being able to wear something other than scrubs or practical clothing; and more importantly seeing Harry in a tux.

"Fine, I'll pick you up at 7.30 Friday night." Harry sighed, having been largely won over by his need to please Nikki.

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Please press the shiny new buton below and I'll post more soon x


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for all the awesome reviews, as promised here's the next chapter x

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For Harry the rest of the week went much too quickly for his liking it wasn't that he didn't want the chance to spend time with Nikki, far from it, it was the fact that the university ball would not generally be his idea of fun. Unforturnately for Harry it was soon Friday night and he was stood outside of Nikki's apartment waiting for her to open the door.

"Hurry up Nik, if you don't come down here soon they'll be a harry shaped icicle stood at you door!" He called into the intercom hoping that she'd be down soon as the taxi was already waiting to take them to the ball.

"I'll be down in a minute, Harry, I'm just finishing getting ready. Go and wait in the taxi if it's so cold." Nikki said into her intercom hoping that she wasn't going to annoy him by keeping him waiting. It had taken Nikki much longer than she thought it would do to get ready as she had wanted to look perfect for tonight, not just so that she was a good representative for the lab but also so that she looked good for Harry. She still wasn't sure if she had chosen the right dress but had decided if this dress did not finally get Harry to notice her as more than a friend or co-worker then nothing would.

Harry was glad that he had listened to Nikki and gone and sat in the taxi to wait for her as a full 5 minutes later she still had not appeared, he was contemplating going and reminding her to hurry up again when her front door opened and the lady in question stepped out. She had on a long trench coat to protect her from the cold but she was still stunning in Harry's eyes. Her hair had been curled and piled onto her head so that it cascaded down and some of the curls framed her face; her make-up was applied subtly to enhance her already stunning features.

"Sorry I took so long, I'll pay the taxi fare as it's going to be so much because of me." Nikki said getting into the back of the taxi next to Harry.

"Don't worry about it, it's a well known fact that it's woman's prerogative to be late." Harry teased causing Nikki to laugh and shove him playfully.

"Oi! I'd be careful what you say Dr Cunningham or I may decide to leave you alone with the boring academics all night." Said Nikki in mock seriousness, the smile on her lips and the playful tone in her voice betraying her words.

Their playful banter continued throughout the taxi ride and soon they were pulling up at the great hall in the university where the faculty ball was being held. Ever the gentleman Harry ran round the taxi and held open the door for Nikki who smiled gratefully as she elegantly got out of the car. At the main reception both were asked for their names and had their coats taken. When Nikki took off her coat Harry's jaw literally dropped to the floor. Her dress was a deep purple colour, but this was not what had shocked him nor was it that fact the halter-neck dress fitted so perfectly to her form and pooled at her feet giving the impression that she was floating it was the fact that apart from the ties that held her dress up around her neck the dress was backless leaving acres of her perfect milky skin uncovered. It was at that moment that Harry knew that this night was going to be torture, having Nikki so close, looking like that and not being able to do anything about it for fear of destroying their friendship when she rejected him would be agony. Not to mention the fact that he would have to deal with the admiring looks she was already attracting which were sure to only get worse as the night wore on, Harry concluded that he was going to have to take advantage of the free champange on offer tonight if he was going to stay sane.

"Are you alright Harry? You're looking a little pale?" Nikki said breaking Harry out of his Nikki induced daze. Nikki had used this time study Harry's attire. The simple tuxedo he wore fitted perfectly to his athletic form making him look incredibly handsome. He had shaved but there was still a hint of stubble left which Nikki had always found an incredible turn-on. Nikki was worried, however, by his reaction to her dress, thinking from his silence and slack expression that he didn't like it.

"Um...Yeah... I'm fine. Shall we go in; they'll be serving the food soon." Harry finally managed to choke out rather hoarsely offering his arm to her and missing the look of hurt that crossed Nikki's face at the fact that he'd not even thought to mention that she looked nice. This only sought to confirm Nikki's suspicions that he didn't like her dress and that he obviously didn't think of her as anything more than a friend.

They quickly found their places and introduced themselves to their fellow guests. As soon as Harry saw a waiter carrying champagne flutes he waved him over a took one, knowing that he'd need one to get through tonight with his prediction of the event being full of stuffy academics already appearing to be true. Of course Nikki was able to win all those she talked to over with her charm and conversation skills and soon had the whole table vying to talk to her, leaving Harry feeling rather lonely and more than a little bit jealous at the looks that some of the men that they were sat with were sending Nikki. Harry's mood continued to get progressively darker throughout the meal as Nikki continued to ignore him and talk to those on their table rather than him; leaving Harry to drink yet more champagne and get stuck in a conversation with the professor sat next to him about the new mass spectrometer that his lab had just bought that he felt Harry just _had_ to know every detail about.

Nikki could tell that Harry was not happy but honestly she did not care. She was not going to let his mood spoil her night, in their line of work they didn't really get a chance to go to many events such as this one so she was determined to enjoy it even if Harry was ignoring her. She couldn't understand for the life of her how or why his mood had changed quite so suddenly but ever since getting to the ball he had been short with everyone that had tried to talk to him; even her, so much so that in the end she had given up. She had made a massive effort tonight to look good for Harry in the foolish wish that maybe finally something would happen between the two of them but from the signals he had been giving her tonight since they had sat down he clearly wasn't interested. So when one of the men at their table asked her to dance when the meal was finished she politely accepted.

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Oh no! Press the shiny new button and leave a review and you'll get to see jealous Harry - go on, you know you want to!


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks again for the reviews; here's the next chapter x

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Harry spent the rest of the night sat in his seat watching Nikki glide elegantly over the dance floor in the arms of a procession of men. The mixture of alcohol and jealously making Harry more and more angry as he saw men hold Nikki in the way he had been dreaming for years. The few brave souls that tried to start a conversation with him were met with thinly veiled sarcastic remarks and very little input into the conversation; people soon learnt to steer clear of the brooding doctor in the corner.

From the moment she left her seat and throughout the entire night Nikki could feel his stare burning into her back but she refused to give him the satisfaction of looking at him directly. Instead Nikki would dance with her back to Harry or look in the opposite direction to where she knew he was sitting. When the guy that she was currently dancing with spun them round unexpectedly her eyes, however, could not be stopped from locking with Harry's. The intensity of Harry's gaze literally knocked her breath away and caused her to stop in the middle of the dance floor. The fire in Harry's eyes drew her like a magnet so that everything else in the room seemed to fade away.

The jealousy and rage that had been building all night at the thought of a man other than Harry touching Nikki finally spilled out when Nikki made eye contact with him. He felt like a man possessed and not quite in control of his actions; possibly due to the large amount of alcohol coursing through his blood stream. He put his champagne flute down and walked over to her like an animal would stalk its prey; their gaze never breaking. Harry pulled her out of the arms of the very confused professor she had been dancing with without so much as a word of apology and pulled her against him as his lips crashed down violently against hers.

Nikki gasped in surprise, inadvertently opening her mouth and allowing Harry access which he easily took advantage of. It took Nikki a few seconds to understand what was happening but she too was soon returning the kiss with equal passion; her arms winding round Harry's neck and her hands burying into his hair in an effort to pull him closer. Harry pulled her closer, his hands splayed on her bare back as he continued to plunder her mouth. It was not a tender kiss but a kiss full of passion, the two of them releasing years of pent up emotion in that one kiss. Their mouths and teeth scraped together as they fough for dominance; each trying to brand the other as theirs.

Eventually they broke apart each breathing erratically; Harry rested his forehead against Nikki's as he fought to regain even the slightest form of coherent thought, unfortunately this gave him a rather pleasant view of Nikki's cleavage which wasn't helping matters much. He eventually became aware of the fact that they were in the middle of the dance floor still and that a lot of the people around them were staring and looking rather uncomfortable. Harry began to sway to the music, Nikki's body moving against his own as they stayed impossibly fused together.

"Sorry." Harry said eventually when he had had time to calm down, looking Nikki dead in the eye, hoping to convey just how sorry he was at the way he had been acting. Nikki smiled slightly at his sincerity and used her arms still wrapped around his neck to pull him in for another kiss; this one much gentler than the last.

When they broke apart Nikki rested her head against Harry's shoulder as they continued to meander around the dance floor. Harry brought his mouth down to her ear, so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath against the side of her face. "Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?" Harry breathed causing shivers to run down her spine. She shook her head in response. "Well you do." He said simply. "So mind numbingly, draw-droppingly gorgeous that for the whole night I've not been able to think clearly. In fact all I've been able to think about is how I want to hurt anyone that has even looked at you tonight which is basically everyone because you a easily the most beautiful woman in this room." He whispered, glad that he was not able to see her face as he was very worried he may just have said too much and destroyed their friendship.

Nikki brought her head up from Harry's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye, "You are an idiot aren't you Harry?" She said teasing him gently but knowing her mistake when she saw the look of fear cross Harry's face in anticipation of rejection. "There was only one man I wanted to spend tonight with, one man I wanted to dance with and that man was you." She said kissing him tenderly, "Now take me home." She whispered when they broke apart. Harry smiled and led her through the crowded dance floor, his hand never letting go of hers.

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One more chapter left (I think, I don't like it at the moment so might rewrite it) hope you enjoyed the Harry and Nikkiness!


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for all the positive responses to this story!

Here's the final chapter; I'm not very happy with it but let me know what you think x

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The next morning Harry woke up with a headache; probably brought on by the amount of alcohol he had drank the previous night and for one second he thought that everything that had happened the night before was an alcohol induced dream. That was until he became aware of the warm and very real body sprawled over his own pinning him to the bed, not that Harry minded at all. Nikki was using his chest as a pillow and had her arm and leg sprawled over him also. Harry took the time to watch her sleep as his hand absentmindedly ran up and down the same expanse of skin of her back that had driven him wild the previous evening.

They had ended up at Harry's apartment as it was closer to the university than Nikki's. They had managed to make it through the entire taxi ride without ripping each other's clothes off but as soon as Harry closed his front door Nikki had pounced on him. Clothes had been shed in various places throughout his apartment as they made their way to the bedroom where the two of them collapsed onto the bed to express their newly voiced feelings for the first time.

His manipulations slowly brought Nikki out of her slumber, in her semi awake state she buried her head deeper into the crook between Harry's arm and groaned. "Harry stop it." She mumbled shifting closer to his warmth.

Harry chuckled, the sound reverberating through his chest. "Good morning to you too Niks." His hand still running up and down her back preventing Nikki from getting back to sleep.

"Are you normally this annoying when you wake up?" Nikki asked, finally giving up on sleep and raising her head out of its very comfortable position to look at Harry.

"Yep!" Harry laughed again grinning cheekily at her. "But I am adorable so I can pull it off." He said taking her by surprise and kissing her with a slow and almost lazy kiss.

When they broke apart Nikki couldn't help but giggle slightly at Harry's self-assuredness. "Sorry to disappoint you Harry but I'm only using you to make Leo jealous."

The shocked expression on Harry's face was enough to make her dissolve into hysterics. When he finally got his voice back he glared at Nikki, "That was not funny." He said rolling them over and pinning her to the bed, "I'm much more handsome than Leo and I doubt Leo would be able to make you scream like I did last night." He whispered against her ear causing her to blush as the memories of last night bombarded her.

"I guess you're right, looks like I'm stuck with you." She conceded as Harry's lips came crashing down on hers; the resolve that he had been using up to this point finally broken by her running her leg up his.

Harry was kissing a path down her neck when his mobile began ringing from the pile of clothes that were on the floor in his room. "Ignore it!" Nikki moaned as he hit a particularly sensitive spot. Even if Nikki had told him to answer it Harry would probably have still ignored it anyway; his need for her too great to deny. The ringing of his phone did eventually stop only to be replaced seconds later by the shrill ring of the home phone positioned next to his bed.

With great effort Harry pulled himself off of Nikki and flopped onto the bed next to her breathing heavily. "They'll only keep ringing if I don't pick up." He said pulling Nikki close to him and stealing another kiss as his free hand blindly sought out the phone on his bed side table. "Hello" He said rather gruffly; hoping to convey to whoever was ringing that he was not amused.

"Harry, are you ok you sound a bit odd and you didn't pick up when I phoned just? I didn't wake you did I?"

"Morning Leo" Harry said looking at Nikki who had to stifle her giggles at the look of annoyance on his face, "I'm fine, I was just in the middle of something when you rang earlier and couldn't get to the phone."

"Oh good. I was just ringing to see how everything went last night; you didn't get too bored did you?" Leo continued, oblivious to what was causing Harry's tone of voice; instead thinking that Harry had drank a bit too much the previous night.

"It was fine. Full of boring academics like I said it would be but Nikki seemed to enjoy it so I think our funding's safe for another year."

"Good. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, next time there's something like that I won't feel so bad about sending the two of you."

"Yeah, sounds good." Harry croaked; not really paying attention to what Leo was saying because of the things Nikki was doing with her mouth to his other ear.

"Harry are you sure you're ok?" Leo asked, concerned about his friend's behaviour.

"I'm fine Leo." Harry argued, his voice an octave or two higher than normal. "I just..." Harry hissed as he fought back a moan caused by Nikki's manipulations, "I just stubbed my toe, that's all."

Nikki took the opportunity whilst Harry was distracted to grab the phone out of his hand; her haze of lust causing her to be more direct with her wording than she normally would be. "Hi Leo, Harry's too polite to say it but we were kind of in the middle of something when you rang and I would quite like to get back to it." Harry looked at her shocked; surprised that she was being so direct with Leo.

"It's about time!" Leo laughed down the phone happy for his two friends. "I'll see you Monday morning and you can explain how it happened then."

"Bye Leo." Nikki said throwing the phone on the floor after hitting the disconnect button.

"Well at least we won't have to work out when to tell Leo about us." Harry laughed as he captured Nikki's lips as they attempted to make up for all the time they had lost ignoring their feelings. Harry knew that he would never complain about attending a ball again.

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I've got some more SW ideas floating about and I'm still planning on writing a Nikki/Harry POV to my other SW fic not sure when that's going to happen tho as it's coming to the end of term and I've got a whole porfolio due in :(


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